happydalek (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
happydalek) wrote2008-05-02 11:36 pm
happydalek) wrote2008-05-02 11:36 pm
Entry tags:
"Brains! Braaaaaaiiiiins!"
I feel like I have none, after watching the first two movies of the Return of the Living Dead franchise. I'm a major Romero devotee, but I felt I should at least get familiar with the "other" zombie series, produced by a fellow named Russo as an alternate sequel to Night of the Living Dead.
I'll just say, beyond the ludicrously stupid skience, in both movies the acting was really, surprisingly good. But the over-the-top direction undermined it pretty badly, especially in the first Living Dead, which was uneven, creepy and made me laugh mostly because it was just so preposterous. ("The movie said to get 'em in the head!" "Yeah, well it ain't working!" "You mean the movie LIED??") The second one, however, was actually pretty good. It was obviously played for laughs, and most of the humor worked really well. Juvenile, but harmless. Two of the actors from the first movie returned in this sequel, playing similar, but different characters, and there's one scene where one of them comments on a sense of deja-vu about the situation. Hehe. Funny!
Tomorrow I'll tackle Return of the Living Dead III, which I hear is actually supposed to be a serious horror movie. Sounds dubious, but whee!! Zombiez!!! Now I finally get where the whole brain-eating fixation came from. And, to all those out there who thought the running zombies in 2004's Dawn of the Dead were a nifty innovation, I gotta tell ya, sorry, Russo did it first, in 1985!
I'll just say, beyond the ludicrously stupid skience, in both movies the acting was really, surprisingly good. But the over-the-top direction undermined it pretty badly, especially in the first Living Dead, which was uneven, creepy and made me laugh mostly because it was just so preposterous. ("The movie said to get 'em in the head!" "Yeah, well it ain't working!" "You mean the movie LIED??") The second one, however, was actually pretty good. It was obviously played for laughs, and most of the humor worked really well. Juvenile, but harmless. Two of the actors from the first movie returned in this sequel, playing similar, but different characters, and there's one scene where one of them comments on a sense of deja-vu about the situation. Hehe. Funny!
Tomorrow I'll tackle Return of the Living Dead III, which I hear is actually supposed to be a serious horror movie. Sounds dubious, but whee!! Zombiez!!! Now I finally get where the whole brain-eating fixation came from. And, to all those out there who thought the running zombies in 2004's Dawn of the Dead were a nifty innovation, I gotta tell ya, sorry, Russo did it first, in 1985!